Jesse Mulligan Auckland Restaurant Recommendations: Here’s Where To Find The Best Biryani In Auckland

In this fortnightly series, Viva’s resident dining-out editor shares advice on where and what to eat.

Do you have any restaurant-related questions or dining-out dilemmas? Jesse Mulligan is here to help.

Email Jesse at Viva@nzherald.co.nz and tell him what you need. Where and what do you like to eat? How much do you want to spend? If you’re visiting, where are you staying while you’re in town? Who are you eating with? Does anybody have access issues?

Here are some questions he’s been asked lately and his answers.

Dear Jesse,

We visited India maybe 30 years ago and have fond memories of the incredible flavourful biryanis. We haven’t ever been able to find the same thing here in Auckland and I wonder if you have come across one that might be up to our high standards! We admit that the dish may have gotten a lot better in our memories over 30 years but I feel like I can still taste it! It was spicy hot, unlike most of the ones I have tried here in New Zealand.

Yours optimistically!

Joy

Hi Joy,

A good Indian friend always used to send me to Bawarchi in Sandringham for biryani but I hadn’t been for a while so, when I got your email I decided to do some further research (don’t worry, I didn’t need much arm twisting).

The first thing I will say is that though we are incredibly lucky to have so many brilliant Indian restaurants in Auckland, the service at the places I’ll mention below is probably not the highlight of the experience. Everywhere I visited was very transactional, so don’t expect a huge welcome when you arrive!

Bawarchi’s biryani (I ordered the chicken version everywhere, for the sake of comparison) tastes a little bland these days, and though it’s a decent option on the way home from the airport, and the price is right, especially with their family-size packs, this was probably my least favourite.

I shared this mini-review with RNZ Asia journalist Blessen Tom, who recommended I seek out some Kerala food. Until recently, it was hard to find in Auckland but a few restaurants have now opened (more than one of them extensions of Hamilton chains, unusually) and you are now spoilt for choice if you’re looking for this sort of food: plenty of spice, plenty of pork, plenty of seafood, and plenty of good biryani.

I loved Salt Mango Tree in Epsom. It’s the most restauranty of all the places I visited: the staff are quiet but kind, though like all these eateries, it is unlicensed, so don’t expect anything stronger than Coke to drink. The biryani is lovely and has more than enough flavour, and you should also consider ordering the fish pollichathu, a local delicacy featuring two bone-in fillets slathered in sambal and baked inside banana leaves and tinfoil.

But the greatest biryani of them all was at Kodur’s in Kingsland (this area seems to be acting as a Sandringham spillover - there is more than one great Indian option, and I’m looking forward to a full meal at “Marine Drive”, another Keralese place further down New North Rd).

Kodur’s has a very spare space for customers, dominated by a large planter box filled with soil and nothing else. But the biryani! It is spicy hot, and fragrant, with the odd fragment of nut and fruit adding texture and flavour. They use a special type of rice with a much shorter grain than basmati which creates a pleasant “clumping” effect. The chicken pieces are somehow juicy despite the cooking process, and the whole thing is an incredible meal, served with a couple of dipping sauces (and of course, you could add a soupy curry on the side if you wanted).

I didn’t plan to write this much, Joy but you’ve hit on my favourite food topic. Let me know how you get on.

Jesse

Hi Jesse,

I am taking my 77-year-old sister to a 2pm show at the ASB Theatre at Viaduct.

I would like to take her somewhere special for lunch. We went to Baduzzi for my birthday.

Any recommendations please.

Judith

Hello Judith, thank you for entrusting me with this mission.

I think you should visit the restaurant inside the Park Hyatt Hotel. It’s called Onemata and it is really wonderful: big views of the water, a really attentive group of waiters and an open kitchen, which will feel like a bit of fun ahead of your big show. It doesn’t feel much like a hotel restaurant (to regular readers I’m sorry, this observation is becoming a bit of a cliche but people really want to know) but, that said, I think you’ll enjoy the walk in through the lobby to the restaurant. It’s one of the great hotel entrances in Australasia, with an internal courtyard and multiple storeys of hotel rooms rising up around you.

By the way, if you’re in the mood for a glass of wine before the show (in my experience, even the best theatre benefits from a light pre-loading, but perhaps that’s the Hamilton coming out in me), the Onemata winelist is curated by award-winning sommelier Suraj GC - you won’t be disappointed.

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